


A Chance

by Sira



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 11:43:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6373417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sira/pseuds/Sira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Still at the quarry, Carol helps out Daryl when he can't quiet down his crying infant daughter. AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Chance

**Author's Note:**

> This is a response to the prompt: Daddy Dixon on ninelives. It's a season 1, AU fic. It was also written for ninelives first line challenge. My first line was/is: As the dream faded, she chased it, forlorn.
> 
> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

As the dream faded, she chased it, forlorn.

She wasn’t ready to let go of the feeling of deep contentment, clung to it with everything she had. It was something she never felt when she was awake.

Still, with every passing second the dream blurred more and more until there were mere tendrils of memory left. All she could still see was Sophia's smile, open and happy. For once, in this dream, her girl had been carefree, something she hadn't been in years.

Sophia still smiled but nowadays there was a hint of fear and sadness in her eyes that nothing couldever erase.

Reality washed over her, and while she kept her eyes closed, her hands fisted the thin blanket that she was wrapped in.

It was her fault Sophia hadn't been truly happy in years. Her girl hadn’t been truly happy since the one time she had left Ed to find refuge in the woman’s shelter, only to go back less than two days later. She hadn’t seen any perspective for the two them, no relatives that could take them in for a while, no friends. She didn’t have any kind of social network she could rely on, no job on the horizon and no idea how to go about any of that. There were so many reasons, understandable reasons she had gone back, even though she knew in her heart that she had just been afraid, didn’t think she could do it. Better live with the devil she knew than to try to fend for her own, for her daughter.  
That day Ed had beaten her worse than ever before, right in front of Sophia. She had wanted to speak out, put up resistance if only for her daughter’s sake so that Sophia didn’t have to see that, but then Ed had looked at Sophia with a dangerous glint in his eyes, and she knew she had to distract him before he could lay a hand on her girl. That damned day the innocence in her baby's eyes had been extinguished forever.

She had to think of the expression on Sophia’s face every day since, hated herself for her weakness. She hadn't been able to protect Sophia from seeing her father knocking her mother around, and even worse, she never again had found the strength to go and find them help, if only so her daughter could have a better life.

It wasn’t only that, she didn’t have any idea how to deal with the new evil she could see lurking in Ed's eyes. The way he had started to look at Sophia lately…

God help her. She didn't know what to do, how to escape. If she had found it impossible before, now she had absolutely nowhere to go with walkers lurking at every turn. She would be dead within minutes. Sophia would be dead.

Beside her she could hear Ed snore, couldn't stop the thought she wished he'd fall prey to a walker. No one would ever miss him.

She began to shake, her own thoughts scaring her. It was ridiculous to think Ed had any idea what was going on in her head, but if he were awake right now, he might beat her anyway, if only because he thought she was looking at him funnily.

Opening her eyes slowly, she looked at Sophia who was sleeping a foot away from her. Her throat was dry, and her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She just had to protect Sophia from the man who was oblivious to the world around them at the moment at all costs. Only how?

A piercing cry had her sit up.

Laura, Daryl Dixon's baby girl. She had to smile in spite of herself.

The Dixon brother's Merle and Daryl had arrived at the quarry only a week ago, and it became quite clear from the beginning they were notoriously ill-mannered, hot-headed and looking for arguments left and right. But they were strong, knew how to fend for themselves and for the group by extension. It was the main reason why no one had protested their presence too loudly yet. That and they obviously needed a place to stay, as travelling with a four months old girl was just too dangerous. From what Andrea had overheard, the girl was a product of an one-night stand, something that Daryl hadn't known about until Laura was delivered to his door step right after the begin of the apocalypse, the mother riding off into the sunset with some other man. No one knew if she was still alive. Carol doubted anyone cared.

She wondered how Daryl and Merle had managed to keep the girl alive. They couldn’t have had the least idea about how to deal with a baby. Well, you could say about them what you wanted, but it was plain to see the two of them adored the girl. Carol had had to hide quite a few smiles seeing how these surly men became almost soft when they picked up the girl, talked to her, carried her around.

Then there had been that one time Daryl was out hunting and Merle had to change the girl’s diaper… She bit back the laugh that wanted to break free. She still had to applaud Lori who had dared facing Merle, who let his temper wash over her before she showed him how the job was done.  
Right now, though Laura didn't stop wailing, and she heard someone, most likely Daryl, trying to shush her to no avail. Making sure Ed was still asleep, she crept out of the tent as silently as she could.

Daryl was pacing around what was left of their meager fire, an almost desperate expression on his face. She stepped closer, and his head whipped around.

“What ya want?”

She would never be able to explain it but Daryl’s open hostility didn’t face her. With Ed she’d have taken a step back, looked down, but she wasn’t afraid of Daryl Dixon.

“What’s the matter with her?” she asked quietly, looking down at the screaming baby.

“The hell I know. Been screamin’ for hours now.”

He looked down at his girl, and the odd mixture of love and desperation called out to her.

“I assume she’s fed and dry.”

His eyes went back to her.

“What is it to you?”

She shook her head.

“I’m only trying to help.”

“Why don’t ya help yourself, lady?”

Cruel words, but she was used to cruelty. He’d have to do worse to make a dent in her composure. The girl wailed loudly again, her face scrunched, red.

“It could be gas problems, you know.”

He stopped his pacing, his gaze looking with hers.

“Come again.”

“Gas. Sometimes babies develop gas problems after being fed. Such a hurting tummy can make them irritable.”

He studied her for a long moment, until she all but had to force herself to remain still while bearing his scrutiny.

“You know what to do about it?”

“There’s no foolproof solution, I don’t even know if it’s gas, but yeah, I had to deal with it before.”

“Show me?”

She wondered if he had any idea how different he looked when he wasn’t busy spitting venom at every living creature in sight. For the first time she saw keen intelligence and hint of vulnerability. He looked away, and realizing she had stared at him for too long, she quietly cleared her throat.

“Sure. Could you hand her over for a second?”

His eyes narrowed for a long moment, his grip on his daughter actually tightening. She couldn’t help herself, smiled at that. If nothing else, he was protective of his daughter as a father was supposed to be.

Her smile was gone as soon as it had appeared. Ed had never been that way, had seen Sophia as nothing more than a nuisance from the very beginning. She wasn’t the boy he’d wanted and she diverted Carol’s attention when it was him who should be her prime focus at all times.

She shook off the thought, waited for Daryl to come to a decision.

“Be careful,” he said, handing the screaming infant over to her.

Cradling Laura against her chest, she marveled at the feeling of this tiny, agitated body against her own, remembering Sophia that age. She had been so tiny, so perfect. She still was perfect. Daryl was tense, eyeing her with doubt in his eyes.

“Do you have a blanket nearby?”

“Why? What for?”

“I want to lie her down, try to get her some relief.”

He looked at Laura, then to his tent a few feet away, clearly torn.

“I won’t hurt her,” she said quietly, and it seemed it was what he had needed to her. He relaxed a bit, giving her a shy half-smile.

“Yeah. I know. Be back in a moment.”

While he turned to find a blanket, she wondered what he had meant with his statement but thought she was able to take a pretty good guess. No one would ever think she could hurt anyone. No matter what she liked to think, they all had seen the way Ed acted around her, they all knew how he yelled at her within the confines of their tent and they would all have seen the resulting bruises after his anger had reached its crescendo once again.

Fresh shame welled up in her, made her want to cry. It seemed Laura instantly got even more agitated, and Carol willed her breathing to slow down. The first rule with upset children was to stay calm. She gently rocked the little on, began to hum a tune but Daryl was already back, a blanket in head.

“Put it on the ground.”

He did so without question, and with a smile, she sat down with Laura, carefully lying her down on the ground. She looked up at Daryl.

“You’ve got to hold her feet and gently move them in a bicycling motion.”

She showed Daryl how to do it, and it seemed she had been right with her assumption as it didn’ttake more than a few minutes for Laura to calm down considerably.

“I’ll be damned.”

They shared a brief look, before she nodded towards the infant.

“Come on, you try it. It’s not that hard, really.”

He looked doubtful but kneeled beside her, his hands briefly touching hers when he reached for his daughter’s feet. His hands were warm, his touch so gentle, she felt as if he’d burned her. She pulled away quickly, trying to hide the violent shiver of fear by crossing her arms over her chest.

“Sorry,” he said, but she shook her head.

“No, it’s okay. It’s… okay.”

She couldn’t tell him that only touch she knew - apart of Sophia’s - was Ed’s and that it always came with a price. She didn’t even try.

Instead she quietly told him how to move his daughter’s feet so Laura would get the most relief.  
He was a fast learner and soon the baby was actually yawning.

“Looks like you might get some sleep after all.”

“Yeah. You’re girl had them problems, too?” he asked.

“Sometimes. But they grow out of this phase before you know it.”

“If they grow up.”

He looked down at his daughter, but she didn’t need to see his face to guess its expression. He was right. Nothing was certain any longer. Only death was, really, and you could never say when it would find you.

“Well, it looks like your daughter has the best protectors she can wish for.”

She didn’t know why she was trying to comfort him, a stranger she had barely exchanged words with before, only that she felt there was more to him than met the eye.

“Me an’ Merle are no fucking babysitter club.”

“Maybe. But you love your daughter and you’d do everything for her. That’s all that counts.”  
He gave her a sideway glance.

“You do the same for yours but you actually know what ya doing.”

She flinched, looked away quickly. While she loved her daughter more than anyone else in this world, she hadn’t done everything she could, not by far.

“Ya know there’s always a chance.”

He had spoken so quietly, she wasn’t sure she heard him correctly.

“What?”

“A chance. To change… things.”

He looked at the tent she shared with Ed and Sophia, then back at her before quickly looking away.  
The breath caught in her lungs at the implications, but he didn’t say anything else, didn’t press her for a reaction. Tears pricked at her eyelids. Yeah, they all knew what was going on. They all know she was too weak to do a thing against it.

Daryl hadn’t looked at her as if she was weak, though. He’d looked at her as if he believed what he was saying that there really was a chance. A chance for her. For Sophia.

Their gazes met again before he looked away, ducking his head before gazing down at his daughter.

“This… she’s my chance.”

“She’s special, beautiful,” Carol said, lost for words.

She could only stare at the little bundle of life that still had a clean slate. While the world they lived in wasn’t one for kids, she had her father and he would love her until his dying breath. It had to count for something.

She took a deep breath when she heard some stirring in the tent behind her.

“I… gotta go.”

“Yeah. Thanks about this…”

She nodded, her thoughts already with Ed, afraid he could’ve woken up and seen she was gone. If he found out she’d spoken to Daryl…

She turned was almost at the tent when Daryl called out a last time.

“Think about it… a chance.”

She didn’t turn around again, just slipped into their tent, glad Ed was still asleep. She took her previous position on the ground, shivering while her thoughts were whirling in her head.

She looked at Sophia, thought back at what Daryl had said. Could he be right? Could she be different? Could she be strong for Sophia and there was a chance for the two of them? She didn’t really think so.

She reached out, touched her daugher’s cheek, the girl stirring lightly before stilling again. Maybe she had to consider it at least.

A chance…


End file.
